Ontario Reign deals away popular player Kyle Kraemer

While many on Sunday were getting ready for the Super Bowl, Kyle Kraemer was getting ready to travel to Colorado.

And Ontario Reign fans were taking to social media to express their disappointment in the news.

The Ontario Reign shipped the popular winger to the Eagles on Sunday in exchange for defenseman Jason Beatty and forward Dylan Hood.

Kraemer, who was in his fourth season with the Reign, was a fan favorite. His jersey often was the highest-earning one during charity auctions and he had become ingrained in the Inland Empire community.

But the business of hockey reared its head last week, when the San Francisco Bulls folded and the San Jose Sharks sent four new players to the Reign, becoming Ontario’s unofficial third affiliate.

And that left Kraemer as a spare part, one that didn’t dress for the Reign the last three games.

“I knew something was going to happen, and to be honest with you, I’m excited for a new start, a new atmosphere,” Kraemer said by phone Sunday. “I’m going to miss the fans a lot, tremendously. They’ve been great to me, and I really loved it here. I wanted to win here. But, obviously, that’s not the case. I’m going to go try and win in Colorado, and I’m looking forward to that. But I’m going to miss the fans, and I’m going to miss a lot of guys on the team, because I was really close to a lot of guys.”

The trading of Kraemer comes after the Reign made a bevy of moves over the past two weeks, which has included four other trades since Jan. 21.

Gone from the Reign during that period were Matthew Clune, Eric Springer, Art Bidlevskii, Jason Dale and Jake Hauswirth via trade, as well as Riley Emmerson, who was given his release Friday.

“Yeah, it’s just tough, because we’re in first place in the league and all these changes come about, it’s tough to swallow,” Kraemer said. “You feel like you’ve been helping the team out winning, and then all of a sudden guys are getting scattered all over the place. Like I said, it’s a business, right?

Advertisement

“I don’t know if it’s the right thing or the wrong thing, it just is what it is. You just have to roll with it. It’s just tough to see a team’s in first place and all these changes start happening. It doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

Reign president Justin Kemp called some of the moves the “domino effect” of the Bulls folding. But it won’t change the Reign’s focus for this season — winning.

“It’s kind of a unique situation — everybody’s technically in the playoffs in the West,” Kemp said during Wednesday’s home game. “We want to make sure we’re going to the playoffs strong this year. It’s really important to us to have a shot to win the whole thing this year.

“We don’t want to stumble in, we want to go in with momentum. We struggled a little bit here over the last week and a half. I think that’s OK at this time of year. Some growing pains, you’ve had a lot of player movements, so that’s to be expected. We’re certainly not panicked about it. But our motivation is to finish strong and try to get that top seed, so we can have as best of chance to play all our series here at home.”

But that doesn’t soften the blow for Kraemer.

“I don’t know. It sucks,” he said. “It sucks what happened. I’m kind of speechless, to be honest with you. I don’t know really what to say.”

What Kraemer is excited about, however, is the chance to jump into the lineup for the Eagles, who are in second place in the ECHL’s Mountain Division, and third in the Western Conference.

“I tell you what I am excited about, I’m really excited to join the Eagles and be a part of that team,” Kraemer said. “They’ve got a great organization, I’ve heard from other players and guys that I know, that’s what I’m looking forward to. And I’m looking forward to making a run with those guys. They’ve got a really, really good team, and they’re really well-coached. There’s great structure there.”

It doesn’t make it any easier to say farewell, as fans flooded social media with their goodbyes and good lucks.

“I’ve been getting a lot of (tweets),” Kraemer said. “It makes me feel good that I was wanted here, and I’m glad they wanted me here. … It’s like my second home being here. Now, it’s a business. No hard feelings toward the organization. I have all great things to say about the Reign. Just time to move on.”